International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science (IJELS) Vol-4, Issue-4, Jul – Aug 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4429 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 1099 The Origin and Development of English Novel: A Descriptive Literature Review Choeda Department of Language Education, Samtse College of Education, Bhutan. [email protected] Abstract — Novel as a literary genre enjoyed the highest level of glory in the 18 th century. The authors namely Defoe, Richardson, Fielding and Sterne contributed significantly to the development of English novel. They influenced the writers who came after them. The 18 th century coincided with the industrial revolution which significantly contributed to the rise of the novel (with the invention of printing machine). The chain effects of industrial revolution improved people’s life and living standard. The rise of the educated middle class people further increased the reading publi c which correspondingly led to demand of novels for reading. Books such as ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Decameron’, ‘Morte d’ Arthur’ and ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ laid the foundations for the development of the novel. ‘Pamela’, ‘Joseph Andrew’s, ‘Tristram Shandy’, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ were some of the notable books that became famous in the 18 th century. However, novels continued to evolve in the 19 th and 20 th century giving rise to different genres or classes of novel. Keywords— Bunyan, Defoe, Epistolary novel, Fielding, Origin of the novel, Picaresque tradition, Rise of the middle class, Sterne. I. INTRODUCTION This paper is written for undergraduate students particularly English and Literature students who may have to study the historical developments of novel in general or 18 th century novel or literature in particular. It is aimed at providing overview of how the novel as genre of literature originated and gained popularity. The paper starts with forerunners or antecedents of the novels to establish the context of the rise of the novel. The origin of the novel is then traced back to the world’s oldest literature, the epics, followed by discussion on the romances which ultimately led to birth of novel proper. The paper also describes different types of novels such as picaresque and epistolary which were the foundations of the novels. The last segment of the paper presents brief summary of the different types of novels that evolved post 18 th century. II. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE NOVEL Though English novel as a literary genre gained popularity in the eighteenth century, its beginning can be traced back to 612 BC when world’s oldest literature Epic of Gilgamesh was written. Homer, who lived in 700 or 800 BC, was the first notable poet or a literary pioneer who wrote the famous Greek epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. He established the tradition of epic which had particular structure and subject matter. In 900 BC Roman poet Virgil produced epic poems Beowulf and Aeneid with the latter becoming a model for John Milton (1608- 74) to write his Paradise Lost . The epics were narrative verses telling stories of human encounters with monsters and accounts of accomplishments of heroic deeds in battles. After the epics came a new form of literature called the romances originating in France in the 12 th century. It was also popularly known as chivalric romance or medieval romance (having flourished in the medieval times or medieval age between1000 AD to 1450 AD). The scholars deviated from the tradition of epic by choosing subjects such as bravery, honour, adventure and courtly love with unique features of using magic, spells and enchantments in the romances to arouse curiosities and interests in the readers. According to Abrams, (1995) “Romances were first written in verse, but later in prose as well” (p.22). One of the notable English romance is Malory’s Morte d’Arthur written in prose (in about 1470) which accounted the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-4000) used both verse as well as prose in The Canterbury Tales (Crompton- Rickett, 1995). Among the 24 stories included in The Canterbury Tales, two stories, the ‘Tale of the Melibeus’ and the ‘Parson’s Tale’ were written in prose. He had also included a romance, The Knight’s Tale. However, it was Chaucer’s long poem Troilus and Criseyde (written in about 1380) which introduced new characteristics of literary tradition with the use of plot and conversations in the poem. Chaucer gave “a new turn to fiction” (Roy,
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International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science (IJELS) Vol-4, Issue-4, Jul – Aug 2019
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4429 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 1099
A Descriptive Literature Review Choeda
Department of Language Education, Samtse College of Education, Bhutan.
[email protected]
Abstract— Novel as a literary genre enjoyed the highest level of glory in the 18th century. The authors namely Defoe,
Richardson, Fielding and Sterne contributed significantly to the development of English novel. They influenced the
writers who came after them. The 18 th century coincided with the industrial revolution which sign ificantly contributed
to the rise of the novel (with the invention of printing machine). The chain effects of industrial revolution improved
people’s life and living standard. The rise of the educated middle class people further increased the reading publi c
which correspondingly led to demand of novels for reading. Books such as ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Decameron’, ‘Morte d’
Arthur’ and ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ laid the foundations for the development of the novel. ‘Pamela’, ‘Joseph Andrew’s,
‘Tristram Shandy’, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ were some of the notable books that became famous in the 18 th century.
However, novels continued to evolve in the 19 th and 20th century giving rise to different genres or classes of novel.
Keywords— Bunyan, Defoe, Epistolary novel, Fielding, Origin of the novel, Picaresque tradition, Rise of the
middle class, Sterne.
have to study the historical developments of novel in
general or 18th century novel or literature in particular. It
is aimed at providing overview of how the novel as genre
of literature originated and gained popularity. The paper
starts with forerunners or antecedents of the novels to
establish the context of the rise of the novel. The origin of
the novel is then traced back to the world’s oldest
literature, the epics, followed by discussion on the
romances which ultimately led to birth of novel proper.
The paper also describes different types of novels such as
picaresque and epistolary which were the foundations of
the novels. The last segment of the paper presents brief
summary of the different types of novels that evolved
post 18th century.
Though English novel as a literary genre gained
popularity in the eighteenth century, its beginning can be
traced back to 612 BC when world’s oldest literature Epic
of Gilgamesh was written. Homer, who lived in 700 or
800 BC, was the first notable poet or a literary pioneer
who wrote the famous Greek epics, The Iliad and The
Odyssey. He established the tradition of epic which had
particular structure and subject matter. In 900 BC Roman
poet Virgil produced epic poems Beowulf and Aeneid
with the latter becoming a model for John Milton (1608-
74) to write his Paradise Lost. The epics were narrative
verses telling stories of human encounters with monsters
and accounts of accomplishments of heroic deeds in
battles.
After the epics came a new form of literature called
the romances originating in France in the 12th century. It
was also popularly known as chivalric romance or
medieval romance (having flourished in the medieval
times or medieval age between1000 AD to 1450 AD).
The scholars deviated from the tradition of epic by
choosing subjects such as bravery, honour, adventure and
courtly love with unique features of using magic, spells
and enchantments in the romances to arouse curiosities
and interests in the readers. According to Abrams, (1995)
“Romances were first written in verse, but later in prose
as well” (p.22). One of the notable English romance is
Malory’s Morte d’Arthur written in prose (in about 1470)
which accounted the legend of King Arthur and his
Knights of the Round Table.
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-4000) used both verse as
well as prose in The Canterbury Tales (Crompton-
Rickett, 1995). Among the 24 stories included in The
Canterbury Tales, two stories, the ‘Tale of the Melibeus’
and the ‘Parson’s Tale’ were written in prose. He had also
included a romance, The Knight’s Tale. However, it was
Chaucer’s long poem Troilus and Criseyde (written in
about 1380) which introduced new characteristics of
literary tradition with the use of plot and conversations in
the poem. Chaucer gave “a new turn to fiction” (Roy,
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4429 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 1100
2016, para, 2) for social and religious aspect of life were
portrayed in the stories unlike farfetched realities of
romances.
1375), an Italian author had already started to write in
prose in 1350. Boccaccio produced “prose tales of
amorous adventure, The Decameron” (Compton- Rickett,
1995, p. 105). That’s why, Italy is considered as the home
of the novel. Chaucer was influenced by Boccaccio’s
style of storytelling.
The popularity of the romances remained in vogue
till 1600 when a new literary style in the form of
burlesque came to existence. The writers wanted to mock
and bring fun out of serious literary matter. For instance
Cervantes made fun of the medieval romances by writing
the famous Don Quixote (1605). Unlike the original
romances in which the knights fought with giants and
dragons to save damsels in distress, his knight (Don
Quixote) fights with windmills which he sees as giants
bringing laughter to the readers. Alongside the
burlesques literary style came the picaresque tale which
was already in fashion in Spanish literature since the
anonymous publication of Lazarillo de Tolmes (1554).
The word picaresque was derived from Spanish word
‘picaro’ meaning a rogue. In a picaresque tale, the main
character is a rogue or rascal who goes on an adventure
and leads his life by his wits. The element of adventure of
the picaro influenced later novelist such as Mark Twain
and Saul Bellow who wrote Huckleberry Finn and The
Adventures of Augie March respectively.
In 1688, a short prose work titled Oroonoko , or the
History of the Royal Slave written by female author Aphra
Behn (1640-89) was published. Behn was influenced by
the quest of knights in chivalric romances in which a
knight goes in pursuit of his ladylove overcoming dangers
and the difficulties. Oroonoko, a prince goes on a visiting
mission of his deceased army general’s daughter Imoinda
following which they fall in love. However, soon he
meets with hurdles planned by his king who blocks his
marriage. The story was constructed in a form of
biography following a linear plot. Behn contributed
towards depicting the truth of life and the book was an
“attack on what she (perceived) as the moral distant
colonial problem of human slavery, degradation and
suffering” (Sanders, 1994, p.269).
contemporary John Bunyan (1628-1688) who published
Pilgrim’s Progress in 1678 and The Life and Death of
Mr. Badman in 1680. Pilgrim’s Progress was the best
seller during that time for every household owned a copy
of it. It is religious allegory telling the story of Christian
who undertakes a pilgrimage from his home in the city of
destruction (world) to the celestial city (heaven).
Coincidentally the elements of modern day novel such as
settings, characters, and conflicts were used well to
present the journey of Christian. “The ideas of
repentance, of faith, of resisting temptation, and of
perseverance” (Kuiper, 2012, p.4) that Christian goes
through in the story are the elements of the modern novels
such as beginning, conflict, the rise in action , fall in
action and resolution. According to Bora (n.d) Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress “provided an important model for
story-telling, with vivid characterization and recording of
dialogue which influenced a lot of later novelists”
(p.4).Thus at the dawn of the eighteenth century, the
foundation for the development of novel as a new genre
of literature was well established paving way for the rise
of the novel.
as epics, poetry and romances to gather overview of how
development of novel progressed until the 18th century, it
is necessary to understand the origin of the word ‘novel’
itself.
According to The Shorter Oxford Dictionary, novel is
“a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length in
which characters and actions representative of real life are
portrayed in a plot of more or less complexity” (cited in
Rees, 1973, p.106). Another definition by an anonymous
author states that a novel is “a piece of prose fiction of a
reasonable length”. Both the definitions highlight the
word ‘prose’ meaning the common or ordinary spoken
form of language without the presence of poetic rhythmic
structure. However, there are a few novels written in
verse as well, such as Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate
and Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegi. The other aspect
of the definition is related to the length. The first
definition points out ‘considerable length’ and second
definition states ‘reasonable length’ to distinguish the
novel’s unique feature as a genre vis a vis genre of short
story. The lengths of some novels are similar to the length
of short stories and hence a term such as ‘novella’ is often
used for shorter novels.
The word novel is considered to have been derived
from the latin word novellus, Italian word novella (which
meant a little new thing) and French word novelle. It was
Boccaccio who first used the term novella storia (short
tale in prose) when he first experimented writing prose.
Boccaccio popularized the vogue of collections of novella
with his collection of ten short stories titled Decameron in
fourteenth century. However, the meaning of the word
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novel meant the kind of short stories written and collected
by Boccaccio until the 17th century. With the rise in the
development of novels in the 18th century the meaning of
the word novel underwent change from short tale in prose
to ‘prose narrative of considerable length’ as stated by
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary.
Thus with understanding of the definition of novel, it
is relevant to discuss what factors or situations provided
opportunities for the rise of the novel in the 18th century.
IV. RISE OF NOVEL IN THE 18TH CENTURY
Majority of the literary critics attribute 18th century as
the time period in which novel took its birth, subsequent
growth and development. With adequate literary
predecessors such as Bunyan, Behn, Chaucer, Malory,
Cervantes, Boccaccio and numerous other writers of the
17th century, the 18thcentury writers availed opportunities
to further experiment and produce novel as a literary
genre. Further the increase in literacy rate, industrial
revolution, rise in the middle class and coming up of
libraries created favourable situations for the rise of the
novel. In the new form of literature namely the ‘novel’ the
construct of the story departed from the romance and
attempted at verisimilitude depicting the pragmatism and
morality of the middle class people. Alexander Pope’s
dictum, “The proper study of mankind is men” influenced
the interest of the people to study human character. Thus
18th century novels explored human characters with the
novelist creating real life characters in their novels unlike
giants, dragons and super human characters in the
romances.
THE NOVEL
One of the major factors that contributed to the rise
of the novel is the development in industries. With
machinery work could be done faster and people could
get more time for rest and leisure time during which
people resorted to reading novels. Printing press were
available for production of multiple copies at cheaper
rate. Even low income people could afford to buy and
read books unlike in the past when only aristocrats were
the reading public. Besides variety of reading materials
such as newspapers, novels and magazines were made
easily available due to printing press. The newspapers and
magazines helped develop the habit of reading which
ultimately led people to start reading novels. Some of the
novels were also published in magazines increasing the
access to novels besides the book form. According to
Hasan (2015), the industrial revolution “paved the way to
the rise of the middle class people” (para.2) who created
demand in the reading materials for they had plenty of
leisure time. With manual work being done by machines,
people could get a lot of free time for reading. Further
they had desires to read about “their everyday
experiences” (Hasan, para.2) which prompted authors
such as Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry
Fielding to write prose fictions depicting real life
experiences.
Since romances were mainly suitable to be read by
elite, aristocratic or noble families, it could not sustain the
readership. The common people got bored with romances
for they had no relevance of any sort to them. In addition,
the stories themselves being centuries old were no longer
of interest to the people. The settings in which the stories
in the romances took place were also unrealistic.
Therefore, romances as a literary genre started to decline.
People started to take interest in the contemporary issues.
Unlike romances, the novels were written in first person
(making it appear ‘more personal and recent’) with
ordinary characters that the readers could relate with.
Decline of drama was also one factor that
promoted the rise of the novel. In the 17th century, during
the rule of Cromwell, theatres (which were so popular
during the Elizabethan times) were banned (Shah, n.d).
Moreover, novel could reach vast audience when theatre
could reach only to a limited audience. When drama came
back with the restoration age, it could not establish its
essence since novels got well established then.
5.3 Rise of the middle class
One outcome of industrial revolution was the rise
of middle class. The growth in industries brought about
unprecedented corresponding growth with trade and
commerce. The people were increasingly becoming
wealthy with even poor people of lower rung being able
to raise their status. Therefore, the additional newly
attained middle class status, this group of people started
behaving like the traditional landed gentry demanding
books to read. Further, with improved living standard
many (both men and women) could acquire education and
be able to read. Women readers increased with greater
leisure time with the rise of middle class and it was a
fashion for high status women to remain engaged in
reading literature. Further the new group of middle class
people did not like the traditional medieval stories of the
knights. According to anonymous article titled , ‘Reasons
for the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century’ in the
web blog Naeem Educational Organisation (NEO) the
rising middle class people demanded a new type of
literature which conformed to their temper and taste and
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revealing the “the psyche of the middle class” (para.4) in
their novels. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Richardson’s
Pamela, and Fielding’s Tom Jones were appealing to the
readers.
easy access to books with books being brought to the
homes if people joined the mobile library as members.
Women readers benefited a lot since they used to stay at
home and exchange books after they finish reading one
(Shah, n.d) from the mobile library.
Though industrial revolution, decline in romance
and drama, rise of the middle class and mobile libraries
played significant role in the rise of the novel, four
authors namely Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne
took the novel to “the highest point of glory” (Roy, 2016,
para.8).
6.1 Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
before becoming a writer at the age of fifty eight
(Compton-Rickett , 1995). Robinson Crusoe, his first
book was published in 1719 followed by Moll Flanders in
1722. Defoe is considered to be “the first true master of
English novel” (Sanders, 1994, p.307). It was he who
introduced the ‘journalistic first person narrative’ creating
fiction to be a fact to the readers. He was the first writer
to have introduced the technique of realism. Despite the
story of Robinson Crusoe, the character being fictitious,
the style of first person narration brought out the element
of realism. Though the novel had no real plot but just an
account of chronological sequences of events, Baker, a
literary critic considered Robinson Crusoe to be the first
modern novel. Defoe is also called as the founder of the
modern novel. However, some critics have categorized
Defoe’s work as work of romances since the element of
adventure and crime dominated. Still, later novelists who
wrote autobiographical novels were influenced by
Defoe’s style.
Derbyshire in London. He worked as a printer of the
Journals of the House of Commons and Law Printer to the
King. During his youthful stage he had experiences of
writing love letter for three girls through which he
understood the ways of femininity and utilized the same
knowledge in his epistolary novel Pamela or Virtue
Rewarded published in 1740. Richardson believed that
the novelist had dual purpose of writing novels; to inform
the readers and impart morality. The whole of the novel
of Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is the exchange of
personal letters between the girl Pamela and her parents.
The narrator Pamela, a servant girl employed in a rich
land owner informs her parents through a series of letters
how she maintains her virtue amidst her employer’s
inappropriate advances until he proposes a marriage.
Richardson had been credited to have created novel of
character by exploring the psychological development in
Pamela. In contrast Defoe explored the physical
development of character in Robinson Crusoe. Clarissa
or the History of Young Lady and The History Sir Charles
Grandison were additional novels written by Richardson
in same epistolary mode. He influenced and popularized
the feature of sentimentality in English novels (Roy,
2016).
Galstonsbury in 1707 (Compton- Rickett, 1995). He
studied law. Fielding is considered as the father of
English novel. He was influenced by picaresque tradition
of writing. He is known for novels such as Shamela,
Joseph Andrews (1749) and Tom Jones (1742). He
popularized the aspect of “realism, characterization and
craftsmanship” of novel (Roy, 2016, para. 8). Through his
novel he presented “a true and realistic picture of human
nature” (Kettle, 1967, p.71). Fielding’s first novel was
Shamela written as a parody to Richardson’s Pamela for
he considered it to be hypocritical morality. In doing so
he popularized comic novel. He continued to mock at
Richardson’s Pamela by presenting a contrasting situation
with a young man Joseph being pursued by a rich lady in
Joseph Andrews. Fielding thus laid foundation for comic
novels.
Laurence Sterne was born in 1713 at a place called
Clonmel in Ireland. He graduated from Cambridge and
became a priest. Sterne’s approach to writing novels was
far different and unique compared to his contemporaries.
He experimented writing novels in a different style rather
than the conventional method with beginning, middle and
end. Rajimwale (2004) remarked that he “was different
and remote from the major novelists of his time” (p.224).
In his novel Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Gentlemen (published in nine separate volumes between
1759-1767) Sterne employed autobiographical but non
linear narrative techniques by frequently skipping and
jumping ahead of time and shifting back in time creating
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Tristram Shandy is born only in volume IV. Unlike his
contemporaries who had definite plot and structure with
beginning, middle and end, Sterne’s novel had no definite
plot. Instead it begins in the middle, get intercepted with
devices such as digressions, humorous reflections and
deliberate blank pages kept in the middle of the story for
the readers to fill in and respond. According to Ogana-
Roxana (2010), Tristram Shandy does not satisfy the
usual expectations of how a novel should be organized
(para.9). However, Sterne “introduced a method of
progression by sensory suggestion and momentary
reaction to immediate experience” (Bora, p.8) which
influenced modern writers such as Joyce and Woolf who
used stream of consciousness as narrative technique.
VII. OTHER IMPORTANT AUTHORS
influential novelist of the time. He was known for writing
satire and describing the “familiar scenes, follies, foibles
and knavery of the ordinary life” (Rajimwale, 2004,
p.223). He also used picaresque style in his novels, The
Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and Gilbas
(1715-1735).
Jonathan…
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4429 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 1099
A Descriptive Literature Review Choeda
Department of Language Education, Samtse College of Education, Bhutan.
[email protected]
Abstract— Novel as a literary genre enjoyed the highest level of glory in the 18th century. The authors namely Defoe,
Richardson, Fielding and Sterne contributed significantly to the development of English novel. They influenced the
writers who came after them. The 18 th century coincided with the industrial revolution which sign ificantly contributed
to the rise of the novel (with the invention of printing machine). The chain effects of industrial revolution improved
people’s life and living standard. The rise of the educated middle class people further increased the reading publi c
which correspondingly led to demand of novels for reading. Books such as ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Decameron’, ‘Morte d’
Arthur’ and ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ laid the foundations for the development of the novel. ‘Pamela’, ‘Joseph Andrew’s,
‘Tristram Shandy’, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ were some of the notable books that became famous in the 18 th century.
However, novels continued to evolve in the 19 th and 20th century giving rise to different genres or classes of novel.
Keywords— Bunyan, Defoe, Epistolary novel, Fielding, Origin of the novel, Picaresque tradition, Rise of the
middle class, Sterne.
have to study the historical developments of novel in
general or 18th century novel or literature in particular. It
is aimed at providing overview of how the novel as genre
of literature originated and gained popularity. The paper
starts with forerunners or antecedents of the novels to
establish the context of the rise of the novel. The origin of
the novel is then traced back to the world’s oldest
literature, the epics, followed by discussion on the
romances which ultimately led to birth of novel proper.
The paper also describes different types of novels such as
picaresque and epistolary which were the foundations of
the novels. The last segment of the paper presents brief
summary of the different types of novels that evolved
post 18th century.
Though English novel as a literary genre gained
popularity in the eighteenth century, its beginning can be
traced back to 612 BC when world’s oldest literature Epic
of Gilgamesh was written. Homer, who lived in 700 or
800 BC, was the first notable poet or a literary pioneer
who wrote the famous Greek epics, The Iliad and The
Odyssey. He established the tradition of epic which had
particular structure and subject matter. In 900 BC Roman
poet Virgil produced epic poems Beowulf and Aeneid
with the latter becoming a model for John Milton (1608-
74) to write his Paradise Lost. The epics were narrative
verses telling stories of human encounters with monsters
and accounts of accomplishments of heroic deeds in
battles.
After the epics came a new form of literature called
the romances originating in France in the 12th century. It
was also popularly known as chivalric romance or
medieval romance (having flourished in the medieval
times or medieval age between1000 AD to 1450 AD).
The scholars deviated from the tradition of epic by
choosing subjects such as bravery, honour, adventure and
courtly love with unique features of using magic, spells
and enchantments in the romances to arouse curiosities
and interests in the readers. According to Abrams, (1995)
“Romances were first written in verse, but later in prose
as well” (p.22). One of the notable English romance is
Malory’s Morte d’Arthur written in prose (in about 1470)
which accounted the legend of King Arthur and his
Knights of the Round Table.
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-4000) used both verse as
well as prose in The Canterbury Tales (Crompton-
Rickett, 1995). Among the 24 stories included in The
Canterbury Tales, two stories, the ‘Tale of the Melibeus’
and the ‘Parson’s Tale’ were written in prose. He had also
included a romance, The Knight’s Tale. However, it was
Chaucer’s long poem Troilus and Criseyde (written in
about 1380) which introduced new characteristics of
literary tradition with the use of plot and conversations in
the poem. Chaucer gave “a new turn to fiction” (Roy,
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4429 ISSN: 2456-7620
www.ijels.com Page | 1100
2016, para, 2) for social and religious aspect of life were
portrayed in the stories unlike farfetched realities of
romances.
1375), an Italian author had already started to write in
prose in 1350. Boccaccio produced “prose tales of
amorous adventure, The Decameron” (Compton- Rickett,
1995, p. 105). That’s why, Italy is considered as the home
of the novel. Chaucer was influenced by Boccaccio’s
style of storytelling.
The popularity of the romances remained in vogue
till 1600 when a new literary style in the form of
burlesque came to existence. The writers wanted to mock
and bring fun out of serious literary matter. For instance
Cervantes made fun of the medieval romances by writing
the famous Don Quixote (1605). Unlike the original
romances in which the knights fought with giants and
dragons to save damsels in distress, his knight (Don
Quixote) fights with windmills which he sees as giants
bringing laughter to the readers. Alongside the
burlesques literary style came the picaresque tale which
was already in fashion in Spanish literature since the
anonymous publication of Lazarillo de Tolmes (1554).
The word picaresque was derived from Spanish word
‘picaro’ meaning a rogue. In a picaresque tale, the main
character is a rogue or rascal who goes on an adventure
and leads his life by his wits. The element of adventure of
the picaro influenced later novelist such as Mark Twain
and Saul Bellow who wrote Huckleberry Finn and The
Adventures of Augie March respectively.
In 1688, a short prose work titled Oroonoko , or the
History of the Royal Slave written by female author Aphra
Behn (1640-89) was published. Behn was influenced by
the quest of knights in chivalric romances in which a
knight goes in pursuit of his ladylove overcoming dangers
and the difficulties. Oroonoko, a prince goes on a visiting
mission of his deceased army general’s daughter Imoinda
following which they fall in love. However, soon he
meets with hurdles planned by his king who blocks his
marriage. The story was constructed in a form of
biography following a linear plot. Behn contributed
towards depicting the truth of life and the book was an
“attack on what she (perceived) as the moral distant
colonial problem of human slavery, degradation and
suffering” (Sanders, 1994, p.269).
contemporary John Bunyan (1628-1688) who published
Pilgrim’s Progress in 1678 and The Life and Death of
Mr. Badman in 1680. Pilgrim’s Progress was the best
seller during that time for every household owned a copy
of it. It is religious allegory telling the story of Christian
who undertakes a pilgrimage from his home in the city of
destruction (world) to the celestial city (heaven).
Coincidentally the elements of modern day novel such as
settings, characters, and conflicts were used well to
present the journey of Christian. “The ideas of
repentance, of faith, of resisting temptation, and of
perseverance” (Kuiper, 2012, p.4) that Christian goes
through in the story are the elements of the modern novels
such as beginning, conflict, the rise in action , fall in
action and resolution. According to Bora (n.d) Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress “provided an important model for
story-telling, with vivid characterization and recording of
dialogue which influenced a lot of later novelists”
(p.4).Thus at the dawn of the eighteenth century, the
foundation for the development of novel as a new genre
of literature was well established paving way for the rise
of the novel.
as epics, poetry and romances to gather overview of how
development of novel progressed until the 18th century, it
is necessary to understand the origin of the word ‘novel’
itself.
According to The Shorter Oxford Dictionary, novel is
“a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length in
which characters and actions representative of real life are
portrayed in a plot of more or less complexity” (cited in
Rees, 1973, p.106). Another definition by an anonymous
author states that a novel is “a piece of prose fiction of a
reasonable length”. Both the definitions highlight the
word ‘prose’ meaning the common or ordinary spoken
form of language without the presence of poetic rhythmic
structure. However, there are a few novels written in
verse as well, such as Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate
and Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegi. The other aspect
of the definition is related to the length. The first
definition points out ‘considerable length’ and second
definition states ‘reasonable length’ to distinguish the
novel’s unique feature as a genre vis a vis genre of short
story. The lengths of some novels are similar to the length
of short stories and hence a term such as ‘novella’ is often
used for shorter novels.
The word novel is considered to have been derived
from the latin word novellus, Italian word novella (which
meant a little new thing) and French word novelle. It was
Boccaccio who first used the term novella storia (short
tale in prose) when he first experimented writing prose.
Boccaccio popularized the vogue of collections of novella
with his collection of ten short stories titled Decameron in
fourteenth century. However, the meaning of the word
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novel meant the kind of short stories written and collected
by Boccaccio until the 17th century. With the rise in the
development of novels in the 18th century the meaning of
the word novel underwent change from short tale in prose
to ‘prose narrative of considerable length’ as stated by
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary.
Thus with understanding of the definition of novel, it
is relevant to discuss what factors or situations provided
opportunities for the rise of the novel in the 18th century.
IV. RISE OF NOVEL IN THE 18TH CENTURY
Majority of the literary critics attribute 18th century as
the time period in which novel took its birth, subsequent
growth and development. With adequate literary
predecessors such as Bunyan, Behn, Chaucer, Malory,
Cervantes, Boccaccio and numerous other writers of the
17th century, the 18thcentury writers availed opportunities
to further experiment and produce novel as a literary
genre. Further the increase in literacy rate, industrial
revolution, rise in the middle class and coming up of
libraries created favourable situations for the rise of the
novel. In the new form of literature namely the ‘novel’ the
construct of the story departed from the romance and
attempted at verisimilitude depicting the pragmatism and
morality of the middle class people. Alexander Pope’s
dictum, “The proper study of mankind is men” influenced
the interest of the people to study human character. Thus
18th century novels explored human characters with the
novelist creating real life characters in their novels unlike
giants, dragons and super human characters in the
romances.
THE NOVEL
One of the major factors that contributed to the rise
of the novel is the development in industries. With
machinery work could be done faster and people could
get more time for rest and leisure time during which
people resorted to reading novels. Printing press were
available for production of multiple copies at cheaper
rate. Even low income people could afford to buy and
read books unlike in the past when only aristocrats were
the reading public. Besides variety of reading materials
such as newspapers, novels and magazines were made
easily available due to printing press. The newspapers and
magazines helped develop the habit of reading which
ultimately led people to start reading novels. Some of the
novels were also published in magazines increasing the
access to novels besides the book form. According to
Hasan (2015), the industrial revolution “paved the way to
the rise of the middle class people” (para.2) who created
demand in the reading materials for they had plenty of
leisure time. With manual work being done by machines,
people could get a lot of free time for reading. Further
they had desires to read about “their everyday
experiences” (Hasan, para.2) which prompted authors
such as Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry
Fielding to write prose fictions depicting real life
experiences.
Since romances were mainly suitable to be read by
elite, aristocratic or noble families, it could not sustain the
readership. The common people got bored with romances
for they had no relevance of any sort to them. In addition,
the stories themselves being centuries old were no longer
of interest to the people. The settings in which the stories
in the romances took place were also unrealistic.
Therefore, romances as a literary genre started to decline.
People started to take interest in the contemporary issues.
Unlike romances, the novels were written in first person
(making it appear ‘more personal and recent’) with
ordinary characters that the readers could relate with.
Decline of drama was also one factor that
promoted the rise of the novel. In the 17th century, during
the rule of Cromwell, theatres (which were so popular
during the Elizabethan times) were banned (Shah, n.d).
Moreover, novel could reach vast audience when theatre
could reach only to a limited audience. When drama came
back with the restoration age, it could not establish its
essence since novels got well established then.
5.3 Rise of the middle class
One outcome of industrial revolution was the rise
of middle class. The growth in industries brought about
unprecedented corresponding growth with trade and
commerce. The people were increasingly becoming
wealthy with even poor people of lower rung being able
to raise their status. Therefore, the additional newly
attained middle class status, this group of people started
behaving like the traditional landed gentry demanding
books to read. Further, with improved living standard
many (both men and women) could acquire education and
be able to read. Women readers increased with greater
leisure time with the rise of middle class and it was a
fashion for high status women to remain engaged in
reading literature. Further the new group of middle class
people did not like the traditional medieval stories of the
knights. According to anonymous article titled , ‘Reasons
for the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century’ in the
web blog Naeem Educational Organisation (NEO) the
rising middle class people demanded a new type of
literature which conformed to their temper and taste and
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revealing the “the psyche of the middle class” (para.4) in
their novels. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Richardson’s
Pamela, and Fielding’s Tom Jones were appealing to the
readers.
easy access to books with books being brought to the
homes if people joined the mobile library as members.
Women readers benefited a lot since they used to stay at
home and exchange books after they finish reading one
(Shah, n.d) from the mobile library.
Though industrial revolution, decline in romance
and drama, rise of the middle class and mobile libraries
played significant role in the rise of the novel, four
authors namely Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne
took the novel to “the highest point of glory” (Roy, 2016,
para.8).
6.1 Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
before becoming a writer at the age of fifty eight
(Compton-Rickett , 1995). Robinson Crusoe, his first
book was published in 1719 followed by Moll Flanders in
1722. Defoe is considered to be “the first true master of
English novel” (Sanders, 1994, p.307). It was he who
introduced the ‘journalistic first person narrative’ creating
fiction to be a fact to the readers. He was the first writer
to have introduced the technique of realism. Despite the
story of Robinson Crusoe, the character being fictitious,
the style of first person narration brought out the element
of realism. Though the novel had no real plot but just an
account of chronological sequences of events, Baker, a
literary critic considered Robinson Crusoe to be the first
modern novel. Defoe is also called as the founder of the
modern novel. However, some critics have categorized
Defoe’s work as work of romances since the element of
adventure and crime dominated. Still, later novelists who
wrote autobiographical novels were influenced by
Defoe’s style.
Derbyshire in London. He worked as a printer of the
Journals of the House of Commons and Law Printer to the
King. During his youthful stage he had experiences of
writing love letter for three girls through which he
understood the ways of femininity and utilized the same
knowledge in his epistolary novel Pamela or Virtue
Rewarded published in 1740. Richardson believed that
the novelist had dual purpose of writing novels; to inform
the readers and impart morality. The whole of the novel
of Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is the exchange of
personal letters between the girl Pamela and her parents.
The narrator Pamela, a servant girl employed in a rich
land owner informs her parents through a series of letters
how she maintains her virtue amidst her employer’s
inappropriate advances until he proposes a marriage.
Richardson had been credited to have created novel of
character by exploring the psychological development in
Pamela. In contrast Defoe explored the physical
development of character in Robinson Crusoe. Clarissa
or the History of Young Lady and The History Sir Charles
Grandison were additional novels written by Richardson
in same epistolary mode. He influenced and popularized
the feature of sentimentality in English novels (Roy,
2016).
Galstonsbury in 1707 (Compton- Rickett, 1995). He
studied law. Fielding is considered as the father of
English novel. He was influenced by picaresque tradition
of writing. He is known for novels such as Shamela,
Joseph Andrews (1749) and Tom Jones (1742). He
popularized the aspect of “realism, characterization and
craftsmanship” of novel (Roy, 2016, para. 8). Through his
novel he presented “a true and realistic picture of human
nature” (Kettle, 1967, p.71). Fielding’s first novel was
Shamela written as a parody to Richardson’s Pamela for
he considered it to be hypocritical morality. In doing so
he popularized comic novel. He continued to mock at
Richardson’s Pamela by presenting a contrasting situation
with a young man Joseph being pursued by a rich lady in
Joseph Andrews. Fielding thus laid foundation for comic
novels.
Laurence Sterne was born in 1713 at a place called
Clonmel in Ireland. He graduated from Cambridge and
became a priest. Sterne’s approach to writing novels was
far different and unique compared to his contemporaries.
He experimented writing novels in a different style rather
than the conventional method with beginning, middle and
end. Rajimwale (2004) remarked that he “was different
and remote from the major novelists of his time” (p.224).
In his novel Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Gentlemen (published in nine separate volumes between
1759-1767) Sterne employed autobiographical but non
linear narrative techniques by frequently skipping and
jumping ahead of time and shifting back in time creating
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Tristram Shandy is born only in volume IV. Unlike his
contemporaries who had definite plot and structure with
beginning, middle and end, Sterne’s novel had no definite
plot. Instead it begins in the middle, get intercepted with
devices such as digressions, humorous reflections and
deliberate blank pages kept in the middle of the story for
the readers to fill in and respond. According to Ogana-
Roxana (2010), Tristram Shandy does not satisfy the
usual expectations of how a novel should be organized
(para.9). However, Sterne “introduced a method of
progression by sensory suggestion and momentary
reaction to immediate experience” (Bora, p.8) which
influenced modern writers such as Joyce and Woolf who
used stream of consciousness as narrative technique.
VII. OTHER IMPORTANT AUTHORS
influential novelist of the time. He was known for writing
satire and describing the “familiar scenes, follies, foibles
and knavery of the ordinary life” (Rajimwale, 2004,
p.223). He also used picaresque style in his novels, The
Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and Gilbas
(1715-1735).
Jonathan…
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